Sassa apologises for delay in Covid-19 grants

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has delayed paying Covid-19 social relief grants for March and April because of a transition in government financial years.

Sassa CEO, Totsie Memela said they are working on the matter.

‘We received confirmation of the extension of the relief grant on 11 February after all administration systems had been closed at the end of January – the previous closing date for this grant.

‘The systems were reactivated immediately and the application channel was operational from 13 February, with a total of 86 363 new applications received for February alone,’ Memela said.

‘Every grant application is validated on a monthly basis to ensure that payments are made to qualifying applicants.

‘All private and public institutions whose processes constitute dependencies have been roped in and are working tirelessly with Sassa to stabilise the situation.

‘We would like to apologise for this interruption of payments, but would like to reassure all deserving applicants that payments will be made as soon as the administrative processes have been completed.’